Bird species in the diet of the birdlike noctule bat, Nyctalus aviator, in Japan.

<p>We investigate the birds in the diet of the birdlike noctule (<i>Nyctalus aviator</i>) through DNA amplification from feather remains found in fecal pellets. Our goal was to confirm that <i>N. aviator</i> preys on nocturnally migratory species, as does its European relative <i>N. lasiopterus</i>, and to gain insights into this hunting strategy (e.g. on the wing vs. from cavity-nest). The diversity and the characteristics of the birds found in the feces remains indicate that in Japan <i>N. aviator</i> employs a similar hunting strategy on songbirds as <i>N. lasiopterus</i> in Iberia.  Both noctules are primarily generalist insectivores that prey on 5-25 g body mass songbirds seasonally during their migration and probably hunt them at high altitude. Accordingly, predation on birds seems to be a strategy that appears in distant points across the Palearctic and is not the result of local specialization. We hypothesize that the bird hunting behavior appeared during evolution as a trophic jump from a pre-existing hunting behavior on the many insects that carry out seasonal nocturnal migrations in temperate zones at high-altitude.</p>